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Vincent Chin

Thirty-two years ago this week, Vincent Chin lay crumpled on the streets just outside Detroit and uttered these last words, “It’s not fair”. He died from injuries suffered after two disgruntled, white autoworkers beat him mercilessly wielding a baseball bat.

On that fateful June 23rd night in 1982, Chin and his friends were celebrating his bachelor party at a strip club in Highland Park, Michigan. An argument ensued between Chin and Ronald Ebens, a Chrysler plant supervisor along with his unemployed stepson Michael Nitz. Witnesses said Ebens instigated the incident by shouting, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work!”, a reference to the anti-Japanese sentiment of the time amidst high unemployment, inflation, and Detroit’s economic paralysis as American car manufacturing jobs were being lost to Japan. It’s reported Ebens and his stepson Nitz also used the racial terms “chink”, “jap”, and “nip” in this deadly bar brawl.

Later in court, both men reached a plea agreement and had their murder charge dropped to manslaughter. They were eventually sentenced to three years probation and fined $3000. Neither spent one day behind bars and their fine was less than the maximum for killing a dog.

Asian-Americans across the country were mortified by the outcome and consequently Vincent Chin’s death became the catalyst and rallying cry for the modern day Asian-American civil rights movement. For more than three decades, the facts to that story remained largely undisputed. But now, thirty-two years after Chin’s tragic death, white journalists are telling the world race played no role in the baseball bat beating death of the 27-year-old Chinese-American.

Neil Rubin of the Detroit News recently wrote a column critical of the focus on race. In his column Rubin cites Tim Kiska, a journalism professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn who said, “The story makes all the sense in the world…but it didn’t happen that way.” With this one “source” Rubin seeks to rewrite history in an attempt to paint this crime as simply a bar fight gone awry with race as a non-factor.

In the column, Rubin portrays Chin as the angry, drunk (Chin’s blood alcohol content was .14) instigator of the fight, “An argument broke out between the groups over a lap dance. Chin threw the first punch. Also thrown: a chair. All were ejected from the club. Outside, Chin attempted to prolong the fight. Outnumbered, Ebens and Nitz declined…”

In addition, Rubin highlighted his concern for the prostitute’s veracity who testified to hearing one of the racial slurs. “Her testimony is the source for what’s now accepted as the truth.” But witnesses also heard Ebens and Nitz hurling racial epithets at Chin, such as “chink,” “jap,” and “nip”, yet Rubin conveniently leaves this significant fact out of his column.

Rubin did concede and acknowledge that the period of the early ‘80’s was a tumultuous time in America fraught with high unemployment, inflation, and hysterical panic and fury against Japanese automakers.

“The early ’80s was an angry time, with Japanese car companies thriving while the Big Three stumbled. A bar Downriver bought a sledgehammer and a junked Toyota, and people lined up to take their whacks.” Despite the nationalistic attitude enveloping Motown, Rubin refused to believe there was any possibility Chin’s murder had ties to race based solely on Ebens’ denials.

So was this a pure hate crime motivated just by the color of Chin’s skin? It’s difficult to say this was 100% exclusively so. But it’s an affront to the Asian-American community to say race played no role. For myself, I don’t think racial hatred started the fight as much as it did to fuel the mixture of alcohol, animosity, and economic woes that eventually lead to Vincent Chin’s murder.

Up front: I don't know very much about the murder of Vincent Chin, beyond what was initially reported in newspapers. I know he was murdered in an incident that some people regarded as a racially motivated hate crime and that others dismissed as a drunken brawl.

I have no special knowledge of what happened, and will offer no opinion. I know there ARE violent racists out there, and am open to the possibility that Vincent Chin was an innocent victim of one of those creeps. I'm also open to the possibility that Chin was a little drunk, got into a scuffle with another drunk, and that things got ugly afterward.

Thing is, I have no dog in this fight. It makes no difference to me whether Vincent Chin was a blameless victim. But it DOES make a lot of difference to Mr. Louie and to many Asian-Americans.

But why? IF it turns out that Mr. Chin was NOT the victim of a racist hate crime, shouldn't Mr. Louie be HAPPY about that? Shouldn't he be glad that America is NOT filled with homicidal bigots?

In the same way, there is now evidence that Matthew Sheppard was NOT murdered by homophobes for being gay. In reality, he was probably a crystal meht addict who was murdered by other crystal meth addicts. Well, shouldn't gays be HAPPY about that? Shouldn't they be relieved that Wyoming is NOT filled with brutal homophobes eager to beat up innocent gay kids?

Of course not. Because Matthew Sheppard and Vincent Chin have become important symbols. They've become heroes and causes celebres to Asians and to gays. If it turns out that they WEREN'T innocent victims of hate crimes, they lose their symbolic and political value.

Look, I'm neither gay nor Asian-American. I don't know what Mr. Louie's life experiences have been. MAYBE he's encountered a lot of racist taunting and bullying in his life, and that would make it easy for him to believe America is filled with violent anti-Asian bigots.

I don't believe that's true, myself. If anything, Asian-Americans are exceptionally rich, successful and well-educated compared to most other ethnic groups- INCLUDING most whites! The "prejudice" Asian-Americans tend to experience is POSITIVE, although I'm sure it's often patronizing.

Yes, IF. Not IS. And I'm very sure prejudice is acceptable as long as it is POSITIVE and does not undermine/distort reality, right? Oh, what are you saying? Sorry, not hearing you over the sound of all this money and success!

Do Asians experience prejudice and discrmination in the USA? No doubt. But it's NOT the same kind of prejudice or discrimination that other minority groups have experienced, and there's no point at all in pretending it is.

Asian-Americans are OVERrepresented in the Ivy League. They are MORE likely to have advanced college degrees than white Americans. They are MORE likely to own their own homes and their own businesses than most other ethnic groups in the United States.
Of COURSE Asian-Americans face their own problems, but on the whole, they're thriving in America in a way that black Americans and Mexican-Americans, for instance, are not.

Why don't you start with trying to empathize with another person's experience, rather than invalidating it? Asian American women ages 15-24, for example, have the 2nd highest suicide rate of any ethnic group. Asian Americans have significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety. There is pressure within the family, and of society as well - to be a certain way. There is also racism. Which is more than violence, though there is that - South Asian Americans experienced significant violence after 9-11 for example.

I mean, you're so thoughtful, reflective, rational and calm. Not an oversensitive nagger and browbeater at all.

I could start by asking you what ANY of your ranting has to do with Vincent Chin. That IS the subject of this thread, right, Doc?

But instead, I'll take a chance and humor you. First, on ONE point, you are absolutely right. Asian-Americans have a high suicide rate. That has NOTHING to do with American society, and MUCH to do with the countries their families came from. Suicide rates are extremely high in Korea, China and Japan. The problem is with THOSE nations' cultures... even if you would like to pretend it's the fault of us American honkies.

Everything else you say is nonsense. South Asians have NOT been assaulted in vast numbers since 9/11, even though many Muslims have made such claims. Anti-Muslim hate crimes in America have been insignificant in numbers. Anti-Jewish hate crimes are far more widespread. Indeed, any time I hear of an anti-Muslim hate crime, I inwardly chuckle, "How much you want to bet this is either a hoax- either there was no hate crime, or the crime or another Muslim committed the crime and is trying to blame it on Americans?" And I'm almost always right.

1. You are accusing me of being an oversensitive browbeater and a nagger, yet that precisely describes your behavior on this forum.

2. You presume that the suicide rate of Asian American women has "nothing" to do with "American" society - without any proof. If the suicide is happening here, it is PART of AMERICAN society, because Asian Americans are part of American society. Your very callous throwing out of Asian Americans is proof of the problem. I never "blamed it on the honkies". You are a very defensive person, who argues quite irrationally. What are you going to blame the high suicide rate of Alaskan Native American women on? Or the high suicide rate of older white men? Is that because of the European culture? Please, you are not making any sense.

3. It is well documented that South Asians have been assaulted and killed in the wake of 9-11. From Balbir Singh Sodhi to the Wisconsin Sikh temple massacre to the man pushed onto the metro tracks in NYC a couple of years ago. To quote, from just 2001:
"There were 507 hate crimes reported against Asians and Pacific Islanders in 2001-an almost 23 percent increase from 2000-many of them targeting South Asians, according to an audit by the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, now known as the Asian American Justice Center."

Just google South Asian American Hate crimes post 9-11. But you probably wouldn't believe anything that says there's racism at all.

4. You seem to have very backwards, defensive reasoning. You are committed to denying that there is a problem. I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to hear these stories directly and listen to victims, as I have. This comment thread has become a vehicle for your rage and intolerance. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I wish you well, and may you grow in compassion and insight. You sound like a very unhappy person. As the Dalai Lama said "If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion."

One of us is in major denial, but neither of us is objective enoiugh to judge whom. I'll let other readers decide. Does Dr.Chandra sound like a calm, rational, thoughtful follower of the Dalai Lama or does he sound like a shrill windbag?

Do I sound like a murderous, angry bigot or have I asked simple, intelligent questions that neither Mr. Louie nor Dr. Chandra has any interest in answering?

I repeat the questions I have posed more than once:

1) WHY does it make Mr. Louie and Dr. Chandra so angry that reporters are questioning whether the murder oif Vicnent Chin was a simple, obvious hate crime?

2) IF Mr. Rubin's account of the murder is "deplorable," then surely you can poiiunt out several lies, falsehoods or factual errors in his column. Please point them out, and refute them, if you can.

3) IF it were proven that Vincet Chin's murder was NOT due to anti-Asian prejudice, wouldn't that be a GOOD thing? Shouldn't you be GLAD that your white neighbors aren't sadistic racists?

In that era (1982) Japan was the bogeyman.
America was in economic and cultural decline, and
prosperious Japan represented the face of the "Yellow Peril."
Everyone in the media and political culture was looking for
a scapegoat.
After Japan's economic decline, China became the villian:
"We'll be taking our orders from those chinks!"
Asians (like Jews) keep their own council. They are reputed
to be "inscrutible." People who are hard to figure out,
ilicite suspicion from the majority.
Asians ARE NOT a monilith. There are many asian peoples
with varying histories and aspirations. To the white majority
"They all look the same."

Mr. Louie, if you have evidence that will refute the "deplorable" claims of Mr. Rubin, by all means, share this evidence with us.

I want to know the truth of what happened. So should everyone. IF Vincent Chin was killed by a violent racist for the "crime" of looking Asia, we need to know that. On the other hand, if Mr. Rubin is right, we need to know that, too.

If Mr. Rubin is lying, distorting the truth or covering up evidence that this was a racist hate crime, SHOW US THE PROOF! Don't dismiss this as mere "white" revisionism. Tell us EXACTLY where Mr. RUbin is being dishonest. Because if he's NOT being dishonest, there's absolutely NOTHING deplorable about what he's saying.

Beyond that, I repeat my earlier question: IF (and this is a BIG "if") Vincent Chin was NOT the victim of a racist hate crime... well, isn't that a GOOD thing? Shouldn't Asian-Americans be HAPPY that Michigan isn't really filled with violent bigots who want to kill them? Shouldn't you be DELIGHTED that this was NOT a hate crime?

On the contrary. I get the srong feeling you WANT this to be a hate crime, that you WANT to believe the worst of your fellow (white) Americans. For some strange reason, you WANT to be be part of an oppressed victim group.

In the same way, when Stephen Jimenez wrote his book proving that Matthew Shepard was NOT killed because he was gay, shouldn't gay Americans have been HAPPY? Shouldn't they have been DELIGHTED that Wyoming is NOT filled with murderous homophobes? Gay readers loathed and pilloried Stephen Jimenez, because they found Matthew Shepard to be a useful weapon in their political battles.

The truth is often inconvenient (for ALL of us), but it is never deplorable. If Mr. Rubin is speaking the truth, he's doing us a service. If he's not, please PROVE to us that he's wrong or that he's lying.

Are you reading my entire blog? I wrote my position on this issue but I'll repeat it below. Keep in mind, my opinions on a number of various Asian-American/race-related topics often goes against what other others would prefer I say but I'm just advocating free speech.

"So was this a pure hate crime motivated just by the color of Chin’s skin? It’s difficult to say this was 100% exclusively so. But it’s an affront to the Asian-American community to say race played no role. For myself, I don’t think racial hatred started the fight as much as it did to fuel the mixture of alcohol, animosity, and economic woes that eventually lead to Vincent Chin’s murder."

You called Mr. Rubin's column "deplorable," and accused him of whitewashing a hate crime. Given that, it's not enough to add a few lines at the end saying there were probably a mixture of reasons behind the murder.

Lest you think I'm just another angry white guy who's making excuses for killers, let ME state on the record:

1) Regardless of the reasons for the killing, it's absurd and disgusting that the killers got no punishment beyond a few years probation.

2) I grew up in "Archie Bunker's neighborhood." Literally. I've known the kinds of blue-collar white guys who talked trash non-stop about minority groups. So, I KNOW that stupid, potentially violent racists really are out there. And I'm quite prepared to believe Vincent Chin's killers WERE such guys.

I'm no more objective and unbiased than anybody else, but as I said, I have no dog in this fight. It makes no differene to me whether Vincent Chin's killers were driven by bigotry, by alcohol, or just by plain meanness.

It clearly DOES matter to a lot of Asian-Americans. Chin provided a rare rallying point for all kinds of Asian-Americans. He has symbolic and political value that many Asian-Americans are reluctant to give up.

as it's another great example of how, 'the fantasy of racist motivation' being behind sociopathic behavior is kept alive.How its given life by people who have been conditioned to project the notion of racism, onto events within their proximity.

People who believe in racism-who speak of racism....who see racism....are racism perpetuators:racism is much like fantasy...and they keep it alive by merely claiming it is the cause for otherwise common events.

You see,without the mention of the claimed motivation behind the crime-i.e. racist sentiment-the crime would be what it is and nothing more.

A man was beaten to death.

This hasn't been disputed by anyone-and likely never will be-as it's based upon an autopsy and scientific inquiry which hasn't even been questioned to my knowledge.

There is nothing more to this tragedy: a group of strangers drink alcohol and become intoxicated, and lose their rational faculties and engage in behavior of a destructive nature with each other.

Pathetic is what it is.And it probably wouldn't have happened if the context it occurred in,didn't exist.Limitless public consumption of alcohol.

Collectively-as a community-as a global community of equal human beings-we all should be outraged.

But there's nothing more to this.If someone attempts to inject a theory about the killer's' thought processes while they were pounding on this poor guy with a baseball bat...then that someone is yelling 'fire' in a crowded theatre when in fact-there is none.

This type of social/cultural instability was one of the relevent factors behind prohibition.